OUR SUN-DIAL FOR ETERNITY.
HE lines that on our Dial move
Are drawn by Jesus' dying Love; The dawn, the noon, the evening hour, But mark the progress of His power Whose Love doth cause our days to be Bright portals of eternity,
Through which our guardian angels wave
Their signal banners at the grave.
Teach me, with meek, submissive mind,
And will to Thy dear will resigned,
The sorrows of my Lord to share,
The yoke of His dear Love to wear,
By Faith encouraged to repeat
His pleadings at the mercy-seat;
Help me to know the Promise mine,
And so fulfil His blest design.
O God of mercy! meet me there,
Dispel the darkness of Despair!
Though chief of sinners, may I meet
My Saviour at the mercy-seat!
Let my soul the pardon see,
Writ in Christ's own blood for me!
Show Thy reconciling grace
In my Saviour's loving face!
GOD'S SERMON FROM THE LILIES.
DEAR Lord! the lilies of the field
Might cure mine unbelief,
But Nature's law without Thy Love
Turns everything to grief.
Thy gracious meaning let me learn.
From sunshine, clouds, and rain,
And from the hours that bring the stern
Vicissitudes of pain.
For Thou must give the eye that sees,
The meek, attentive mind,
The watchfulness of gratitude,
Or all within is blind.
A patient waiting on Thy Love
Doth every mercy ask,
And sweet submissions to work out
Love's disciplining task.
Oh let Thy grace within my soul
In heavenly beauty shine,
And make, by Love's supreme control,
My being wholly Thine!
LOVE'S MORNING AND EVENING STAR.
OH, Love is as the Star of Morn,
The rosy radiance of the dawn,
New risen upon the soul;
And Love is as the Evening Star,
Softly stealing from afar.
The twilight's sweet control.
More lovely in its modest ray
Than all the brilliance of the day,
The Star that leads us on ;—
The Evening Star, that through the night
Proclaims, with sweet prophetic light,
The Resurrection Morn.
O Day of Glory! may thy ray
My life illume each rising day,
And every midnight hour,
And scatter from the opening tomb.
The midnight shroud of doubt and gloom,
Of sin and death the power;
Till He who is our Life appears
In majesty of endless years,
Of Faith and Hope the prize;
And in His likeness we assume
Our thrones, transported from the tomb,
Triumphant in the skies.
OH FOR THY LIKENESS, LORD!
LORD, could we but reveal Thy glory,
Ourselves from sin and folly free,
And in the doubtful lanes of life
Remind each wanderer of Thee;
This were a Heaven on Earth to be
So filled with light and life divine,
That men would crowd in haste to see
Such bright incarnate glory shine!
Like Thee on earth, and so in Heaven,
Because we see Thee as Thou art,
Our pardons sealed, our sins forgiven,
And Christ's dear image in our heart:
The light of Love and Life Divine
All shining through our bliss,
Could all the blest in Heaven design.
Or dream more godlike joy than this?
Oh to be like Thee as Thou art,
On earth from human folly free,
As thine Ambassador to teach
Of holiness the mystery:
Calling the dead in sin to rise,
And find eternal Life in Thee.
What else were this but Paradise,
Inhabiting Eternity!
THE DEWS OF CHRIST'S YOUTH.
HAPPY for you, in Life's young fairy morning, To have received, through Love's maternal
The blessed heirship of your promised Home,
With holy teachings of that heaven to come,
And visions of the Angel-trodden stairs,
With Jacob's pilgrimage and wrestling prayers;
And many a shield from sin's attractive snares,
By earliest hymns deep planted in the heart;-
Divine fruition of God's promise, bearing
Such endless joys of gratitude and glory,
Increasing through eternities of years!
The Cross, the Crown, your infinite delight;
In memory
of your
Saviour's endless story,
The morning's radiance, and the sunset bright,
Each evening's starry maze of splendors showing
The glorious mansions of the Saints in Light!
For, in God's wondrous mercy, even so
Our peaceful nightly slumbering visions show
To what bright realms in yonder heaven we go,
By Love protected from the world of woe!
Ye dearest little ones, come all to Me,
For I your endless happiness shall be,
In every world where you My glory see,
Bearing My likeness through eternity!
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